First place for UEL students in UK design competition
Hero Carousel
Listen to this page
Published
28 August 2025
Share
Four UEL postgraduate students have won first prize at the Structural Concrete 2025 student competition, fighting off stiff competition from high-profile higher education institutions including Surrey University, Imperial College London, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Leeds and University of Greenwich.
Razeena Mohamed Basheer, Aishwarya Santhosh, Harivignesh Pitchai and Bala Karthika Balakrishnan were awarded the accolade by judges in recognition of their design proposals and drawings for a sustainable dockside hotel redevelopment. The panel said their submission was ‘high quality… well considered and thought through, well-presented drawings and a strong sustainability report’.
Razeena, Aishwarya, and Bala are all studying MSc Structural Engineering, and Harivignesh is studying MSc Civil Engineering with Sustainability at the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (ACE) at UEL.
David Tann, Dean of the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (ACE) and Vice-Provost (Technology) at the University of East London, said,
I am so proud that University of East London has won first prize in this prestigious national competition. This marks UEL’s seventh victory in the Structural Design and Sustainability Competition, a truly remarkable achievement that reflects the exceptional talent of our students.
"Congratulations to civil and structural engineering students Fathima, Aishwarya, Harivignesh and Bala. Their innovation, sustainability-driven mindset, and ability to apply theory to real-world challenges demonstrate precisely the skills most valued by today’s employers.
I also want to thank our wonderful staff - particularly Dr Ali Abbas, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering, and Dr Karl Micallef, our Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at ACE, whose ongoing mentoring and dedication to supporting our students continually inspire excellence.”
Ali Abbas, Associate Professor of Structural Analysis and Design at the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (ACE), UEL, said,
"It is a pleasure to educate and supervise our engineering students, and I am so thrilled with what they have accomplished. Our design demonstrated exceptional creativity, technical rigour, and an intuitive understanding of how modern concrete design can respond to critical environmental challenges. It not only met the competition brief with clarity and elegance, but also highlighted the importance of sustainable construction practices and material efficiency.
Working closely and collaboratively with The Concrete Centre and the Royal Academy of Engineering is key to meeting the objectives of our ambitious 10-year strategy, Vision 2028, which is reshaping the face of education through collaborative initiatives alongside industry partners. As the economy rapidly shifts towards a low-carbon digital future, we are nurturing the next wave of digital professionals, entrepreneurs, and researchers, while also striving to meet our environmental aims to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.”
Razeena Mohamed Basheer, one of the four winning students on the UEL team, said,
We are incredibly proud to have won this award in such a tough national competition. We’re very grateful to our mentors, Dr Karl Micallef and Dr Ali Abbas, for their endless support and guidance throughout the process. As international students, winning at this level is a huge milestone for us, and it gives us confidence and excitement for the future of our careers.”
The Concrete Centre’s Student Design and Sustainability Competition is a prestigious, nationwide annual challenge in the UK that encourages students to explore sustainable design using concrete. The briefs students are given align closely with pressing societal and environmental themes. This year, for example, students were tasked to design a dockside hotel redevelopment featuring a conference centre, banqueting suite, five floors of bedrooms and a signature restaurant projecting over the water, maximising views of the maritime heritage basin while ensuring stringent durability and sustainability requirements are met.
UEL students have a strong track record when it comes to excelling at these prominent annual competitions, having come second place every year in the last three years and winning one of the top prizes seven times in the last nine years, since first entering in 2016.
The official award ceremony will take place at the Institution of Structural Engineers’ event on 6 November 2025, where the students will be presented with their award and join the judges for dinner afterwards.